Lava cascade in Thunderbolt Distributary of Labyrinth Cave system

one located just below ceiling height and
the other directly above the collapsed
tube. The remaining several hundred feet
of cave consists of a 10-ft-wide passage
whose ceiling gradually lowers. The tube
is sealed by pahoehoe lava at a point
some 106 ft vertically below the upper
entrance. Spalled wall linings cover the
floor of the last section of the cave and
make it difficult to traverse. The downstream
continuation of this tube contains
Indian Well Cave.
clean, and varied. Here one can see a
lava-tube system that is only slightly
damaged by collapse (see frontispiece).
The cave shows most of the features to be
found in lava tubes: pahoehoe floors,
lava pools, lava cascades (fig. 35), and
well-developed lavacicle ceilings and
dripstone walls. Two kinds of lava
benches are present: one marks a highlevel
stand of an extremely viscous lava
flow, which attempted to crust outward
from the walls as the lava was flowing;
OTHER CAVES IN OR NEAR
THE MONUMENT
In addition to the caves, shown on
maps 1-7 of plates 1 and 2, that are easily
accessible from Cave Loop Road, a
number of interesting caves are easily
reached by roads in other parts of the
monument; these caves are shown on
maps.8-14 of plates 3-5. Four additional
caves that are among the most interesting
in the monument are shown on maps
15-18 of plates 5 and 6; access to two of
these caves, Crystal and Fern Caves, is
restricted because of the fragility of their
contents.
Two maps on plate 6 show surface
features; map 19 shows Mammoth Crater
and adjoining areas, and map 20 shows
the short caves and interesting features
associated with collapse trenches along a
major lava-tube system within a littlevisited
part of the monument area.
Figure 34. Stairway leading to entrance of Valentine Cave (see fig. 4 and map 8, pl.
3).
Valentine Cave
Records at Lava Beds National Monument
report that Valentine Cave (map
8, pl. 3) was "discovered and named by
Ross R. Musselman on Valentine's Day,
1933." This cave can be reached from
monument headquarters by driving
southeast for 2 mi on the paved road
connecting the monument to California
Highway 139. As this road rounds the
north end of Caldwell Butte, a paved
road to the left (north) marked with a sign
for Valentine Cave turns off and ends
within 0.25 mi of the parking lot adjacent
to the cave entrance (fig. 34).
Valentine is a deservedly popular
cave among visitors-it is interesting,
Figure 35. Lava benches on walls of Valentine Cave (see fig. 4 and map 8, pl. 3)
indicate high-lava mark from higher stands of lava that occupied the tube.
42 Selected Caves and lava-Tube Systems, lava Beds National Monument, California